Arsene Wenger has encouraged Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to score more goals this season and told SkySports what targets they should be setting.
Wenger was responding to Thierry Henry’s claims that Karim Benzema’s extra goals would win Arsenal the title. Wenger suggested that his midfielders should be targeting more goals first:
“I don’t see why a guy like Chamberlain should not have an ambition to score 10 goals, Sanchez can score goals too.
“Ozil has to fix himself a target of at least 10. For a guy who plays behind the striker you want more from him on the goalscoring so we can a little bit share that.”
So 10 goals in all competitions each. Is that achievable? I certainly think so, especially for Ozil. If the German stays fit he will play at least 40 games this season, and I think he should have a goalscoring record of around 1 in 3 for the position he plays. 10 is a good base target that is very achievable for someone of his calibre, with a growing confidence in front of goal.
Chamberlain already has his first after scoring in last weekends Community Shield. If he can force his way into the starting eleven more regularly then I expect him to also surpass the 10 goal mark. Goals are something that have really been missing from his game so far at Arsenal, but as Wenger says – there’s no reason why he shouldn’t score 10 a season.
Both players are expected to start against the Hammers on Sunday afternoon, will either respond to Wenger and score today?